Set in modern-day Paris, Fêtes de la Nuit mixes scenes, songs and dance to weave a tale of love and romance in which Parisians "attempt to reconcile their traditions with the multiculturalism of today," as a release states. "This naughty valentine, contains strong language, adult themes, explicit sexuality and full nudity."

"I love Paris," Mee said in show materials. "I love it for its annoyances and idiosyncrasies and pretensions and arrogance as well as, above all, for the sense that the French know how to enjoy the present moment, how to devote a lot of time to ensuring that the simplest events of daily life are filled with pleasure… Doing a piece about Paris was a little like keeping a diary or a photograph album so that I won't forget the pleasures of my own life."

The design team includes Annie Smart (sets), Christal Weatherly (costumes), Alexander V. Nichols (lights) and Jake Rodriguez (sound). Michael Suenkel serves as production stage manager. Playwright Charles Mee's works have been staged in many cross-genre presentations including Snow in June at Massachusetts' American Repertory Theatre, an Anne Bogart-directed SITI Company production of bobrauschenbergamerica at BAM's Next Wave Festival and a Martha Clarke-directed production of Vienna: Lusthaus (revisited) at New York Theatre Workshop. The scribe himself urges adaptations or reworkings of his texts on his website (http://www.charlesmee.org) as part of his "the (re)making project" — based on the theory that "There is no such thing as an original play."

His works include True Love, First Love, Big Love, Summertime and Wintertime.

Tickets for Fêtes de la Nuit at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. in Berkeley, CA, are available by calling (510) 647-2949 or (888) 4-BRT-Tix. For information, visit www.berkeleyrep.org.